MonthJuly 2015

You know, the idea where you convince somebody of something in the time it takes to ride in an elevator. It’s talked about mostly in the field of sales, but it applies to any situation where you need to make your case in a short period of time. Most sales people tell you that’s about two minutes, max.

Now, let’s be real here. You can’t convince someone, even the most impulsive person imaginable, to make a major life decision in two minutes. But you CAN pique their interest and make them want to know more. And that’s the real art of the elevator pitch.

In the case of Christianity, I like to call it The 2-Minute Gospel. And I think everybody ought to have one at the ready. Understand, by “gospel,” I’m not talking about reciting the entire books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in two minutes. By “gospel,” I’m talking about Miriam Webster’s FOURTH definition.

Gospel:Something accepted or promoted as infallible truth or as a guiding principle.

In other words, we’re talking about truth. And my question for you today is simple: Can you state what YOU believe to be true about God in 2 minutes or less?

In this day and age of outcry against public dissemination of God’s word, it’s more important than ever for Christians to be able to share the truth — individually, quickly, passionately. The world won’t allow us to stand on the street corner and shout it anymore. First Amendment or not, that right is being abridged daily.

But we can share His truth one-on-one. Are you ready?

And here’s the thing … you never know when the opportunity may arise. It could be in line at the grocery store. In the break room at work. Riding the bus to work. Anywhere. We simply can’t afford to be caught off guard.

So here’s my challenge you: Develop a 2-minute gospel. Edit it until you can do it in 2 minutes or less. Practice it on other believers to see if it’s effective. Have it ready, then USE it when you have the chance.

In a moment, I’m going to share my 2-minute gospel. It’s my way of explaining what I believe, and yours will be different. My gospel really breaks down in to three sections.

1. God created everything.
2. God gave us free will so that we would choose to love Him.
3. We messed it up, so He sent Jesus to pay the penalty that should be ours.

My 2-minute gospel is below. Believe it or not, I can recite this in exactly two minutes. I know because I’ve practiced it many times. You can also find it in the What I Believe section of this blog.

Good luck with yours. I pray that you have a chance to use it.

Bob’s 2-Minute Gospel

I believe God created everything. Heaven, earth, stars, planets, people … maybe even little green men from outer space. Who knows?

I believe He created us so He could love us. At the same time, I believe He left us to decide whether we’d love Him back. Why would He do that? Well, think about it. What kind of relationship would it be if He simply programmed us to love Him? We’d be like Stepford wives. It wouldn’t be real. And that would leave God very lonely.

I believe we messed it up in the Garden of Eden when we decided we needed to know what God knows. Silly us. We can’t know everything He knows. But satan (I won’t even capitalize his name, that’s how much I despise him) tricked us into thinking we could. That led us to sin, which is separation from God. We had paradise in the bag. After the fall, we got our eyes opened to the real world. We became slaves to sin.

I believe that our colossal blunder cost us eternity with God because God can’t have filthy people in heaven (or anything less than perfection, for that matter). Our sentence became an eternal party in the lake of fire, hosted by satan himself.

I believe that God loved us so much, however, that He just couldn’t stand to see us suffer for all eternity. So He made a way for us to be washed spotless — by sending His son, Jesus, to die in our place.

I believe Jesus did come to earth, born of a virgin (yep, a virgin), and lived among us, teaching us everything we needed to know in order to carry out God’s plan. The religious leaders of the time felt threatened by His presence, so they conspired with the Romans to have Him put to death in a gruesome manner on the cross. They thought they had defeated Jesus, but they didn’t know it was all part of God’s plan.

I believe that Jesus rose from the grave after three days, defeating death and completing the job He had been sent to do, fulfilling the prophesies of Isaiah and others from hundreds of years earlier. He made a way.

I believe He returned to heaven to be with His Father, after a time with His closest friends.

I believe God then sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us until the day Jesus returns.

And finally, I believe that I — along with anyone who chooses to believe in what Jesus did for us — will live eternally with God someday in an unimaginable paradise.

It seems like a lot. It’s actually very simple. And the question is … what do you believe?

OK, that’s not true. I have plenty of patience for other people. But I have none for myself, as anyone who knows me can attest. And I have very little patience for things that are out of my control, especially when there’s an outcome I really care about.

Who wouldn’t want a house with a gorgeous family room like this?

For example, my wife and I are trying to sell our home. We’ve done lots of great work to the place — landscaping, siding, roofing, and a bunch of stuff to the inside to really make the house beautiful. It looks fabulous. Here’s a photo of our family room, which is a source of great satisfaction for me because I designed it myself. Pretty great, huh? I mean, this home is READY. Somebody’s going to get a great deal.

The recent Supreme Court ruling that gives same-sex couples the right to marry has, to say the least, caused a great deal of hoopla in this country.

Evangelical Christians are up in arms with the decision. After all, it’s pretty clear in the bible that God intends marriage to be the union of one man and one woman. Allowing same-sex marriage is akin to condoning sin.

Meanwhile, the LGBT community and its supporters are celebrating. This is about an individual’s right to choose his or her own lifestyle. Evangelicals can’t tell us how to live, they say.

And you know what? The LGBT community is right.
They DO have the choice. After all, that’s how God made things.